Victory at the President's Cup

luckily enough, the President's Cup, team golf between the Internationals (excluding Europe) and the US, was held just down the road a piece from us at Royal Melbourne a few weeks ago.  it's a fantastic format for a golf tournament from a fan perspective.  there's no golf clap.  just enormous crowd roars for the "home" team, relentless taunting of the visitors, and the players love it on both sides.  our hideous American flag/enormous bald eagle head shirts were displayed.   

a course marshall threatened to escort us off the course on multiple occasions.  there were too many uncreative sarcastic comments to count.  LT started a record of them she may share with you someday.  oddly, many Aussie's asked us where we got them with a hint of jealousy in their tone.  after several hours on the course, i was certain we were carrying the torch for most obnoxious display of 'Merican patriotism.  then i saw the flag shorts/skirts group ... and, no offense Foley's, i was a little jealous.  i quickly realized my jealousy resided in somewhat of an affinity for the flag short/skirt meaning the obnoxiousness title was secure ... but oh what could have been with those shorts.

Best shot I got of the shorts/skirt.  The unseen leg is split stars and stripes.

on to the tournament.  we parked ourselves at the third hole and watched every match come through.  it's a par 3, but one of those that makes you think you could compete with these guys if you ignored the landscape.  the green is surrounded by bunkers cut right into the green (no fringe) with a drastic slope back to front, rolling at 13 on the stimp, and a golden tee-esque drop off the front edge.  i reckon they had a 20 foot wide by 10 foot deep window to land the ball on the green in to avoid serious complications.  many players faultered, the Americans moreso than the Internationals at this point.

The 3rd Hole

Phil, the best short game in the world, chipping up the slope for the second time.  It went in the bunker to the left.

after witnessing the misery the majority of the players experienced on the 3rd, we maneuvered around the course a bit and then parked ourselves between the 15 and 17 greens.  an excellent move as i think 8 of the 12 matches were decided on one of these two holes.

Leftie the Lovable Loser ... losing on the 17th

one of those matches included Tiger clinching the Cup for the American's with the 18th point on the 15th, but it all looked pretty undramatic on TV.  i can't imagine it was intentional, but when the American's went up 16-13 needing two match wins for victory, all the screens on the course shutdown.  it created a pretty awkward scene where Tiger won his match and started celebrating with other US players ... then they toned it down when the crowd didn't react ... but the crowd didn't react because nobody was sure if that clinched the Cup or not ... and then everybody left.  awwwkwarrrd!  but it was a fun environment to be a part of and the town was buzzing throughout and even after despite their loss.

sadly we were not interviewed or presented any awards for the apparel we sported on this fine day, but we did make the big screen.  watching it back on dvr, i was certain we had to be in some of the shots on the 17th.  this is phil preparing to lose on the 17th:

this is me next to the big red blob near the center of the picture with my arms crossed in front of me:

i don't know where LT is.  she had put on a black jacket at this point ... commie ... making her hard to spot.  it is highly probable that she casually moved away from me denying any association.

better shot with the stars and stripes more prominent.  in front of the red blob this time, but LT indiscernible or nowhere to be seen again: